Issues of class are hard for me. I’ve been destitute – one iffy circumstance from homelessness. Still, I have a middle-class background. I know how to navigate that word as it is my own. Even though I have a history of personal abuse at the hands of “poor” and rural men and I used that as a shield for my own messed up reactions to “poor” and white and especially rural folks. I can get past some serious “gut-level” reactions and assumptions (they will be ignorant, mean, angry, drunk, bad parents, prone to violence etc.) it’s a tough one to work out for me.

I guess what I fight most is transphobia– because I have so internalized “don’t cut genitals” from my vehement opposition to FGM, male circumcision, doctor’s “sex assignment” at birth of the intersexed… it’s very hard for me to “turn that off” when the person in question is actually asking for GRS. Living as the other sex? sure. Hormones even? ok. Asking a doctor to conduct surgery on your genitals? aaaeeeiiiii!!

If there wasn’t this MASSIVE emphasis on genitalia defining who we are as a person, trans men and women wouldn’t have to undergo these radical surgeries to conform to YOUR expectations.
If society could accept women with little estrogenised penises and men with the capacity to have babies, then this would all be a non issue.
Unfortunately the first questions a pregnant woman is asked is “Do you know if it’s a boy or a girl?” and the answer is based on the genitals seen in a scan.
If schools were to stop teaching “Boys have penises and girls have vaginas” then once again, this issue would cease to exist.

Also, if I didn’t post about it, my head was going to explode.

I don’t actually regret the pingback, but at the time I was worried about disrupting the process more than I needed to be.

What kinds of bigotry are the easiest for you to spot others engaging in?

I’m often most aware of sexism, homophobia, and transphobia. This is likely because, as a female, I am a frequent recipient of sexist behavior, and I have been close with/am related to/have friends that are homosexual or transgender. Other bigoted behaviors likely don’t cross my mind as often because I’m not as exposed to them.

Do you have a tendency to exhibit certain kinds of bigoted behavior? Ablism? Racism? Transphobia? Classism? Sexism? Homophobia? Xenophobia? Something else?

This is a very tough question—not because I can’t think of anything, but because it forces the person answering the question to admit behaving in a prejudiced way.

I most often find myself not necessarily outwardly exhibiting, but definitely thinking, through a fatphobic lens. I find myself continuing to slip into the “it’s unhealthy,” “you can take the stairs up one flight, get off the damn elevator,” etc., mentality. Even typing it makes me feel kind of queasy.

Thank you for this post; I know a lot of people have expressed concern over problematic comments, but I think that ultimately, admitting bigoted behavior like that “out loud” is a really good reminder of how ultimately terrible prejudices like the ones expressed here are to the person that holds them, and serves as an impetus for change.

http://ciderpress.livejournal.com/214072.html